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ianbanks's review
3.0
Started brilliantly and then fizzled out near the end into a quasi-ironic ending with deeply homoerotic undertones.
Look, I really did enjoy this but I did feel that the conclusion could have been shorter or woven into the narrative of the climax a little more effectively. The setting is vivid, and it’s always nice to spot the Prime Directive out in the wild before Star Trek claimed it, and the plot is one of the last of its type before the fifties started paying attention to the current science. The characters are bland but with clear motivations, although there is a distinct lack of female characters, even for the time it was written. But the story does race along with plenty of incident and excitement which is all I’m after for a lazy afternoon.
Look, I really did enjoy this but I did feel that the conclusion could have been shorter or woven into the narrative of the climax a little more effectively. The setting is vivid, and it’s always nice to spot the Prime Directive out in the wild before Star Trek claimed it, and the plot is one of the last of its type before the fifties started paying attention to the current science. The characters are bland but with clear motivations, although there is a distinct lack of female characters, even for the time it was written. But the story does race along with plenty of incident and excitement which is all I’m after for a lazy afternoon.
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